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Sticks and Stones Can Break Your Bones and Words Can Really Hurt You
DOI link for Sticks and Stones Can Break Your Bones and Words Can Really Hurt You
Sticks and Stones Can Break Your Bones and Words Can Really Hurt You book
Sticks and Stones Can Break Your Bones and Words Can Really Hurt You
DOI link for Sticks and Stones Can Break Your Bones and Words Can Really Hurt You
Sticks and Stones Can Break Your Bones and Words Can Really Hurt You book
ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to respond to a cluster of objections that have been raised against what has been called the “microaggressions research program” (MRP). Microaggressions refer to brief, commonplace, often subtle verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities. Members of marginalized groups experience microaggressions on a weekly, if not daily basis. Failure to acknowledge this pattern of microaggressions and their connection to larger discriminatory acts might result in the notion that one can simply brush off a single slight or choose to interpret it differently. Additionally, standpoint theory provides an epistemological justification for prioritizing the knowledge and experiences of marginalized groups, which can legitimate the harms caused by microaggressions that are currently being called into question by critics of the MRP. Importantly, microaggressions of this sort are never one-offs. Rather, when members of these groups routinely hear such comments and questions, microaggressions can compound to create significant harm.